The dream of bringing pandas to the SF Zoo did not get London Breed reelected as mayor. And the reality of bringing pandas to the zoo is now in doubt with Breed gone, Mayor Lurie lukewarm to the idea, and a top zoo donor declaring full-throated opposition.Mayor London Breed spent her 2024 reelection year trying like hell to bring a pair of pandas to the SF Zoo, which seemed perhaps a gimmicky sop for the Chinese-American vote, and a glib distraction from some of the city’s most pressing problems. But Breed did win a commitment from the Chinese government to get one or possibly two pandas, which she announced in the April 2024 video below, delivered with as much fake enthusiasm as Jennifer Garner in a Capital One commercial.    It's happening: the pandas are coming to San Francisco!These Giant Pandas will honor our deep cultural connections and our Chinese and API heritage. They will bring residents and visitors from all over who come to visit them at the SF Zoo. pic.twitter.com/IInDO26QyI— London Breed (@LondonBreed) April 19, 2024 There were political roadblocks and financial setbacks, but the zoo declared in late October that they’d lined up the $20 million they needed to build a proper panda habitat. But six days later, Breed lost her reelection bid, so the project’s biggest cheerleader was no longer around. It did not help that a scathing report from a city oversight commission called the SF Zoo “unsafe for visitors and animals,” “dilapidated,” and “crawling with rodents.” Ouch!Now the Chronicle reports that the SF Zoo’s panda program appears to be in doubt. They spoke with San Francisco Zoological Society CEO and executive director Tanya Peterson, who cited that new mayor Daniel Lurie might not be as supportive, and even added that incoming President Trump’s anti-China fervor could also undo the deal.“I haven't signed the panda agreement,” Peterson told the Chroncle. “If the new mayor is not supportive or the new president isn't supportive, there's maybe signs that we move elsewhere.”“Move elsewhere” seems to mean just not getting the pandas.Lurie gave the Chronicle a statement last month saying he was “a big supporter” of bringing in the pandas, but said he was “assessing what it will take to realize this opportunity.” And it was never his campaign promise in the first place.More significant, it seems, is some unapologetic pushback from one of the zoo’s top donors, real estate magnate John McNellis, who did not mince words in an email to the Chronicle. "Pursuing pandas while the zoo is in its worst shape ever is a serious mistake,” he wrote to the Chron. “The money that it would cost to grandly house and rent pandas from China could be far better spent on at last renovating the zoo, repaving its cracked and failing roads, replacing its spent landscaping (and) rehabilitating its existing exhibits.”The aforementioned zoo CEO and executive director Peterson is already in something of a rough patch over a series of mini-scandals at the facility. So she would not seem to have a lot of political capital to get those pandas here, and it’s difficult to see anyone other than Lurie who could and would take the lead on this.That is, unless London Breed keeps up her panda push, somehow pulls it off, and makes this part of her next chapter and possible political comeback.Related: SF Zoo Claims It’s Nearing Its $20 Million Fundraising Goal to Bring Pandas to Town [SFist]Image: Lukas W via Unsplash